Coaches Corner and your pickleball progress
Here is a quick and easy blog post by Joe Matthews, a guest author over at the thedinkpickleball.com
In a humorous and somewhat serious way, he describes the natural progression of a pickleball player’s journey on the path to the 5.0 level. Who here can relate?
Read the article here:
https://www.thedinkpickleball.com/player-progression-lifecycle/?ref=the-dink-newsletter
They travel in herds
Joe concisely covers my pickleball experience in several paragraphs, and where I have to ask, “Where do I think I fall on the lifecycle of the pickleball player’s progress?” Ashamedly and in the spirit of transparency, I might be in the “Snob” phase of my lifecycle, though I do try hard to respect court etiquette and rules like the paddle-up system. I’m a golden rule type of person and respect others hoping the Universe brings me some of the same from others. Back to the snob label, I do not like the word “Snob,” I would reject such a label if I heard someone apply it to me. To be transparent, I have labeled some players as such, and by golly, they deserve my judgment. Being judgmental is one of my human foibles that surfaces occasionally, and I am trying hard to be more kind and loving.
Like Coach Geddes constantly says, “Pickleball is a metaphor…” and I can be kinder when observing the behaviors of other players who do reflect the not-so-positive attributes of the “Snob” and “Training to be Pro” players described in Joe’s blog.
One of the points Joe so accurately describes is how advanced pickleball players will tend to travel in “herds.” Here is the point I wanted to briefly explore when reflecting on what Coaches Corner means to me.
Coaches corner pods
When I first connected with Bryon, the founder of Coaches Corner, he described a business philosophy based on the mutual benefit behaviors of dolphins. He explained how in business, there is often a predator mentality where business people and enterprises view each other as predator or prey epitomized by the “shark.” Bryon went on to explain that in the wild, there is one force that sharks will not mess with: Dolphin Pods or a group of dolphins banded together for mutual benefit. Both strong and weak dolphins work together to drive off the sharks.
The same applies to the pickleball world; we know that we observe sharks and dolphin-type players in the sea of courts we frequent. The latter is rare, but at times we encounter a player that exhibits high competence and ability, but they are different, more like a dolphin than a shark. And who doesn’t like dolphins? Dolphins are like firefighters; who has ever heard someone say “Firefighters suck?”
The dream of Coaches Corners coaches and leaders is to create Coaches Corner pickleball pods where we all work together to the benefit of each individual as well as the community. We want each athlete and player to rise to the highest and best version of themselves that they want to be. This is when the Coaches Corner athlete reaches that level of high-level amateur play or pro-level competence, and they remember to be more like a dolphin and less like a shark.
We would love to see Coaches Corner pickleball pods forming worldwide. If you are a pod leader and want to join the ranks of highly trained and qualified Coaches Corner athletes or coaches, click the link below and start a new phase of your lifecycle.